November
2009
Social Media Ethics1
I just finished reading the 3M Post-it debacle, and it is hard to believe that an organization such as 3M would act in such a way. According to David Scott, author of the linked blog post, a blogger posted pictures of a jaguar covered in 3M Post-its which received lots of online attention. After catching on, 3M contacted the blogger to use the pictures for their back-to-school campaign, however they did not want to pay the blogger. Without consent, 3M then re-created the scene on their own and used the pictures in their campaign anyways. They definitely did not safeguard the individual’s ideas or act under ethical standards of their company. Instead of creating good PR for their organization and product, they used unethical practices and turned it into an online storm of negativity and public scrutiny.
Many recurrent themes in guidelines for ethical social media practice are transparency, honesty, responsibility, and privacy and are included on this PRSA post about social media ethics. They apply to both organizations and individuals. As the PRSA post suggests, online ethics is different than in the real world because information travels FAST, spans DISTANCES and SPACE, and reaches a WIDE AUDIENCE or SCOPE. It is important for PR professionals to realize these differences, especially as social media becomes a more popular means of communicating and promoting one’s cause. As evidenced by the 3M mishap, social media can either truly help or hurt your organization’s reputation.
I think the 3M debacle is an interesting one. If you think about it, putting sticky notes on cars is a prank that has been around for years. So what makes this particular case so special? I think the online aspect you reference is what makes the difference in this situation. For whatever reason, this particular episode of pranking got a lot of attention. The fact that 3M didn’t just “sticky note a car,” but they recreated the same instance to make it look just like the other car is where the problem arose. The public disapproval they faced after this incident is a great example of why a company should value ethical actions. Your publics care and expect that you treat people ethically.